The Recognition Process

Recognition is the process of translating pen strokes into characters, symbols, or
shapes. An application conducts recognition by passing the raw pen data to special
dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) called recognizers, each of which may specialize in a particular data type. For example, one
recognizer may specialize in English text, another in Greek, and yet another in
electronic symbols.

The system default recognizer serves the recognition needs of most
applications. Alternatively, applications can load additional recognizers and select which
to use for any given input. Regardless of the recognizer, the DoDefaultPenInput function can conveniently run the entire recognition process.

An application interfaces with recognizers through a data object called HRC, an abbreviation for "handle to a recognition context." This chapter
describes the HRC and explains how an application uses the HRC functions to recognize pen-based handwriting.